 a new viral survey has ranked the best and the worst countries for expats to move to live and work in David Let's see where all the Asian countries fall and which one surprise us. Yeah, this went viral. It's called expat nations 2023 it ranked the cost of living availability of housing career prospects social life quality of medical care andra and some of the Answers were surprising Mexico came in at number one. I don't think that's surprising in 2023. Everybody's going to Tulum Everybody's going to CDM X to get in the tacos a lot of people speak English nowadays out there However, and the Asian countries that ranked in the top 10 and went Malaysia Taiwan Thailand Philippines and ranking near the bottom of the list was actually Japan at 44 in South Korea at number 50 Wow, those are surprising because in the Asian American world You're thinking about the soft power the coolness all the media consumption Those would be like two of the top tourism Destinations in all of Asia, you know, it's hilarious David. I was talking to our friend Kaiser Who lives in Mexico City and he said one of the benefits of being an Asian guy in Mexico is that some people think he's Korean? So that's really funny that the whole Korean wave is actually kind of helping him in his social life. However People are not trying to move to South Korea because I think it's very expensive But anyways, we're gonna get into the reasons and more comments Please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hot pot boys first off We got to say this Andrew. We don't know this was done by like a very generalized study I'm gonna go ahead and assume older Europeans were the people that were most surveyed if you made me bet I do not know but if you made me bet money, I would imagine that's who took the survey Hmm. All right, but even regardless David Are you surprised that Malaysia's number four on the list out of all the countries Malaysia not a bad place? But just like are you just I don't know I think the reason why Malaysia's up there is because It's probably priced at a second-world country level But some of the medical care in places like Kuala Lumpur or Penang might be in amenities that you could get might be moving More towards first-world country perhaps. No, that's a deal like I think that people who are traveling want like bang for their buck Yes, that's a good point And I also think that's similar reasons to why the Philippines is up there I'm not surprised Thailand's up there. Of course people love going to Thailand They love the lifestyle out there and they love all the fun stuff and also the work stuff and the Moitai and all that stuff But I am surprised that Taiwan is up there along with those countries because those are Southeast Asian countries in Taiwan Although is the East Asian country it kind of I guess has some like kind of Southeast Asian flair to it Yeah, a little bit of Guamani and Hawaiian vibes to it. That's interesting I think that it has some of the really nice advanced things that like Japan and Korea has like ultra fast subway system But it almost got the beachy beetle nut vibe. You know eat some fruit on the beach Yeah, you can surf out there David. You want to know my theory? I think Taiwan ranks up there partially because I think all the Chinese expats or the Asian expats ranked it really high. Yeah, because I know a bunch of American-born Chinese or like Taiwanese Americans who moved back to Taiwan in the past five years Especially during COVID and they've been there since yeah, you're right. You're right Chinese dudes love Taiwan Yeah, I see them move back a lot more than like HK people move back to Hong Kong And I think it's funny this comment that said expat is just a dressed-up way of saying European American people denying a deny being labeled as immigrants But someone also then pointed out that guys immigrants and expat are different terms because immigrant means that you're moving there Permanently to continue the rest of your life versus an expat is actually just there mostly for work and could very well leave Yeah, I mean to me man It's very difficult to understand who was an expat is an English teacher in Asia an expat Or is somebody who's like working at a multinational who's really high up and has like two MBAs Is that also what expat for sure? That's an expat, right? Yeah English teacher an expat. It's unclear to me Yeah, I think those expats from all different countries although I think the image that we have is like an old European dude and or white dude in like a Hawaiian shirt that You know likes women of that country, right? Here are the ten worst countries for expats that were ranked in the survey like I said this would not be my list I'm kind of surprised by it. It goes Kuwait Norway Turkey South Korea Germany South Africa Italy Malta New Zealand and Japan. All right, David Let's talk about what's really surprising us South Korea and Japan are on the bottom ten of the You know of the ten worst countries. I guess to move to as an expat. Why do we think that is concerning? these are such like Big societies big cities and Asian Americans at least and specifically Tokyo there. That's like one of the heaviest Heavily touristic countries in the entire world. These are the trendiest Asian countries, but how come expats don't like working? Okay, all right I think if they take cost of living and career opportunities in a consideration I could see those weighing heavily in Tokyo and Seoul because those would probably be the two cities you would move to as an expat and they have a really highly Educated population that's ultra competitive So you're gonna get pushed out by either Korean Americans or Koreans that study abroad in the west or Japanese Study abroad in the west or in their local universities and come back to fill those high-level positions So it's not like you're immediately gonna be looked to as any sort of authority Especially their work culture specifically in Japan and Korea's ultra hierarchical. It's ultra cultural You're not gonna be familiar with any of those schematics and details or nuances Yeah, it is true that if you don't speak Korean or Japanese and you're in those countries It does make it quite hard. They're buying for that like they're pretty strict about it Like they'll be like, oh, you're not speaking Japanese like you should learn Japanese, you know If you're gonna live in Japan like that's like kind of the attitude Well, they have a very strong strong buying culture and that's like one of the strengths of their society But it also makes it difficult for outsiders to penetrate that right There was this comment from this guy who was like dude even Koreans are trying to leave South Korea right now because the cost of living and Everything like that the work culture is toxic and like basically if you're an expat There is no fairness justice or legal protections It doesn't matter how many years you've been there or how much you contribute You are kind of basically treated like a long-term tourist. Yeah, I think it's changing I mean, I saw on the list I believe China and Singapore ranked like near the middle like in the 20s, you know what I mean But it really depends man like ultimately I think this list is highly variable and it would just vary so much on your stats Like literally most people that are Asian-American Andrew I'd say like 80% if not 90% they ultimately if they move back to become an expat in Asia They just go back to the country that their parents are from not all the time like if you're from, you know Myanmar or something like that Burma, you're probably not gonna go back, but Almost any other you know what I mean like no I mean we even have a bunch of Vietnamese friends that are back in Vietnam right now Yeah, we have a Cambodian friend that is visiting Cambodia right now He's like oh man like my family's out here and if they wanted me to spend more time on the business Yeah, he's got a bunch of new malls in Cambodia. It's kind of lit Somebody said man only move to Korea if you look like a K-pop star expat Yeah I mean, how much do you think that played into it too? Like if you're like a young good-looking hip person with like hip millennial Gen Z skills, maybe you should move to places where those more come into play, right? It's this whole thing is like hyper Individualistic and I could see Mexico being the answer for like a generalized answer totally making sense But maybe people who are like super scared shouldn't go there, you know, you're very easily spooked I think it also depends. I mean, I think that sometimes the more like I guess Developed a big country is or like, you know the bigger the cities are in a way The harder it is as an expat to get embedded in it You know I mean like I could see yeah in Thailand your money goes a little bit further, you know, I mean But yeah, like I said, I have an Asian friend in Mexico like man He's enjoying himself. He likes it because one he feels American to its cheap Three the beaches and the city are safe Although there's other parts that you don't want to go to and then he even said that he's not even Korean He's Vietnamese, but he was like, yeah Like I'm kind of getting the Korean bump out here because they love K-pop traveling Kaiser check out his Instagram Yeah, Kai out in Mexico City. We got to go to CDM X man I've just been eating at these CDM X restaurants, you know all around America, too. Um long story short Andrew What what are these lists show do these lists do I don't want to take out if they did the work to interview 12,000 people I don't want to say it means nothing But I just want to say this like where you live in your life or what fish bowls or what squares on these gigantic Expansive game map of life you choose to live your life in It's highly situational and highly relative to your individual circumstances, right? Yeah And it also and here's a tip for anybody who's thinking about being like a digital nomad or working from home Obviously, we have a number of friends who are doing that so I talked to them sometimes and it's really depends on like What type of life you want to live man? Like if you want to go to a place where you have the best chance of meeting like I guess like more Established people it probably helps if you go there with some connections or you go to your motherland Or you go where your family has connections for me if I wanted to develop I guess high-level international business connections I'd be probably looking at Shanghai right now. Yeah, Hong Kong. Yeah, yeah, because realistically why am I I'm not gonna go to Japan and Yeah, I would just be in I guess the American expat crowd or the English-speaking Japanese crowd that was it from America, but how high can I really expect to rise up that ladder, right? That's my goal exactly and you know what we have a number of Asian friends who are Asian and didn't choose to move relocate to Asia I said, yo, why why didn't you go to Asia and and why'd you go to like Latin America and send they were like, you know Honestly for me, I'm so American eyes. I don't really feel Asian I feel out of place when I'm there so they're just like I just operate as an American anywhere I go anyways, right right Latin America has way more of the Western vibe. Yeah to life I mean like Asia is specifically East Asia is very Confucian. I will tell you this it is I traveled all around East Asia It's very Confucian. Yeah, there's a lot of rules a lot of rules and let me tell you this We have a Mongolian friend Okay, who is out in Latin America right now and you're like, oh well you seem to do well. You've got family in Mongolia Why wouldn't you go back to Mongolia? But you know like Mongolia is not maybe a place that everybody wants to move back to you know I mean like to be honest it maybe it just doesn't really depends on your connections, too I mean maybe you would like it if you had enough, you know, you're plugged into that circle and that's what you were trying to do Yeah, well, I think overall David any at last takeaways I mean, hopefully this video was helpful for anybody who's thought about traveling these countries First of all, I think all these countries are nice to travel to I am surprised New Zealand such a nice Western country one of the five aisles of of England is is so low on the list But I don't know maybe that's because of cost of living and job opportunities. Maybe I think it's boring I think a lot of people from New Zealand they even move to Australia to get like a bigger city vibe I know more global. Um, I'd say this man It really depends as an American Do you want to network with other American expats at what level do you want to talk to locals? International global citizens third culture kids. Do you feel energized? Do you feel like you're a different person like you could feel like a Different person in this country or this city than another place Yeah, and if that place activates a side of you that you and you want to stay in that pocket At least for that phase of your life Just know that that that's okay and make your decision based off that and you just kind of got to know like What kind of like phase of life you're in, you know, like I know some Canadians They move to America and they don't necessarily like how aggressive everybody is but their salary is like 50 to 200% Higher so they're just doing it to stack enough money so they can go back to Canada and easily buy property Hey depends on all your reasons how long you want to stay how you identify, right? Yeah, where your connections are So anyways guys, I'll hopefully that was helpful Let us know in the comments down below what you think about this list Are you working abroad have you visited any of these countries recently? What do you guys think and how much do you think? It just has to do with how much people embrace you, you know, there's this chart Andrew People can either tolerate you they can accept you or they can embrace you and I would hope that Everybody at least finds those pockets whether here locally or internationally where they can feel embraced. Oh Because that's a good life. It's a better life. Hey, oh You're gonna have a good life if you feel embraced. It's true. It's true All right, everybody. Thanks so much for watching the hot pot boys and until next time we out peace